I never realized how goal oriented I am...Time to set a new goal..
unfortunately i haven't riden my bike since Aug 24 th when i was in Philly...I started a new job and am trying to adjust to my new 40 hr a week schedule..not sure about this waking upo early stuff! So fr things at work seem to be going well...hope hey coninue down that path....
i keep making up reasons as o why i'm not exercising right now -- new job, new shedule, i'll wait til next week, etc...so I did decide that next week
Ok, now to write about the ride. The week before I was getting nervous about the hills. I wasn't sure if I had trained enough and how big the hills were. So I spent 2-3 hours looking at the route map, google maps and a topo map to figure out the elevation hanges. Finally figured out it was a 5% to 7% grade. Then I had to compare those hills to the grades in Austin. Like my coworker said, had I spent the time riding some more hills, instead of trying to figure out the elevtions I would be ok. All
I leave in 2 days for Philly. it's finally raining in Austin, so not much riding going on. Not sure if it would really help or not anyhow...
The first time I rode the ms 150, I met this girl Kristi who had just come home from tracelimg all 7 continents and she was hoping on the bike for the first time that year to do the ride, so my motto is, if Kristi can do it, I can do 70. Of course Kristi was in her low 30s and hadn't had a stroke 9 months prior, but she was not in what I would call good s
Well bike riding when it's 104 outside, isn't my idea of fun, so i've been slacking a bit. time to get serious...feel i need to be able to ride at least 40 miles before aug 24, that's over 1/2 the distance...then I can fake the rest. Good news is that I was ale to figure out the grade of the hills on the livestrong challenge bike ride in philly and they are like some of the 'easier' hills here in Austin...so if i have to walk up the hill it won't be that bad! i'm thinking of the ride as five 14
i've been riding and doin really well, just haven't updated things here! busy finding a new job and working on rehab...
But, here's what i've done bike wise:
my trainer had me out on the road trying to maintain a high cadance...it ws frustrating at first but i'v finally figured it out.
Found out my coworker for the past 2 years wants to start road biking, so that's cool. we've been out a couple of times. She's a good bike rider and it's nice to have someone else around. She's enjoyin
i had the best ride Saturday morning! I was visiting relatives in Fredericksburg and decided earlier that week to see if there were any bikers or routes to go on. Found a great website w/ maps and that lead me to a listserve for the area.
so I ended up meeting w/ 4 other riders from Fburg and we went on the route i was hoping we'd go on. I explained to them that I was slow snd they said they'de wait (think they were kinda excited to see some new blood). on the wey out of town, it was really
i set out to ride for at least 2 hours...ended up riding 2 hrs 15 mins and 25 miles! its amazing how mny extra miles you can add on when you weave around the neighborhoods. went into 2 different areas.
need to find a group to ride with...but i'm never sure if my arm will make it or if i'm fast enough...right now i'll keep riding by myself.
i found that if i have a destination or a planned route, i can get through these training rides. i'm really misssing my old riding buddy who move to philly, so i'm trying to come up w/ new things to keep me going on the bike...so this past saturday, i made a swimmeet my destination... I knew if i did 3 laps around a neighborhood, then wove my way to the swim meet that i should be on the bike 1.5 hours. it was supposed to be an easy ride and it was until i realized the pool was in the hills! i th
the next stationary bike activity my trainer assigned was to "fake" hills...i started in the lowest gear, pedaled for 2-5 mins then shifted to the next higher gear for 2-5 mins, then shifted up again. wassupposed to do this for 60 mins...i made it 35 then realized i had a 10 am appt at work. the stationary bike bores me.. even when i have a tv show on!
this might sound strange, but its annoying that i can walk, etc, because that means there is no more pt to get me back to where i was BS. i know i shouldn't complain, but it's almost like as soon as you can walk and take care of yourself, they don't seem to care about getting you back to "normal" just my bitter self and annoyance w/ drs
Anyhow, thanks to friends and family, i have a personal trainer who is working w/ me to get my strength back to my left side. I didn't realize how weak it r
shoulder is much better so after no pain for 2 weeks better get back on the bike, especially since I signed up to do the Livestrong Challenge in Philly w/ my old riding buddy! we both agreeded that 100 would be stupid, so we settled on 60 miles.... have until Aug 23 to get strong again.
on saturday got up early (for me and was on the road by 8:10) riding to a friend's neighborhood so I could watch their kids swim in the swim meet. it was only 8.5 miles and one decent hill away. Made it w/ n
dr. said I could do whatever as loing as my shoulder wasn't in pain, so i've decided it would be best not to ride this year. tough decision to make, but think this is for the better. i will voluntr for the event.
last monday, got home from work early and decided to ride. 10 miles thru the hood..problem is my shoulder is hurting so bad i probably shouldn't be riding and i haven't trained enouh for the ms150 which is in 5 weeks...so do i still try to ride the ms 150 and do what i can do, will i get too upset if i have to sag? or do i just drop out and volunteer for it? guess the visit to thedoctor on weds will tell me more about my shoulder.
i was on my own today, kristi was sick, but i needed to go for ride, called a friend and told her i'd call about haf way to check in. stayed in the hood, same route as last time , but would zigzag and repeat sections to get 15 miles in. i realized that my right leg is working more than the left leg--time to get out the trainer and work on that left side. shoulder didn't hurt as bad. i was tuning thecorner heading home and realized i just got a flat.. at least i could walk home. i am having troub
on feb7th, i needed to go to the eye doctor to pick up new contacts and i couldn't get a ride, so instead of walking the 1.5 miles, i decided to ride 2.5 (take the long safe way) i made it there in 15 mins, contacts weren't there so i went back home. 5 miles in 30 mins--95 more miles to go in order to finish day one of the ms150! at a 10 mph average, its going to be a long day in the saddle! but i was on a bike and clipped in and i didn't fall!
